NASA 'naut falls off bike, misses shuttle launch Astronaut Tim Kopra will miss the forthcoming launch of Discovery on its STS-133 mission to the International Space Station, after falling off his bike over the weekend. There are reports that Kopra broke his hip in the mishap near his Houston home, but NASA remains tight-lipped. It said: "Tim is doing fine and expects a full …
Michael Collins was going to be the command module pilot on Apollo 8 but needed an operation on his back so Jim Lovell took his slot instead (Collins was probably gutted and Lovell probably felt really lucky) although when Collins was fit he took Lovells spot on Apollo 11 and landed on the moon instead of Lovell.
So maybe Lovell was luckier/unluckier (mind you who remembers Collins even went there?), of course this twist and turn of fate put Lovell on Apollo 13, was that good or bad luck?
"although when Collins was fit he took Lovells spot on Apollo 11 and landed on the moon instead of Lovell."
Hmmm. Given that Collins stayed in the CSM in orbit while Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the surface in the LEM, it's a bit of a stretch to say that Collins landed on the moon. In reality he never got any closer than about 69 miles.
Only a typo, mean to be "went to" rather than "landed on" (although you could argue the point that Apollo 11 was the mission, the mission landed on the moon, in the same way as mung bean, petuli oil parents say "we're pregnant", but it's not what I meant, just a typo), maybe Lovell was the lucky one, after all, he was made commander of the backup team (was this a consolation prize?), I guess it's all butterfly effect from the back surgery onward, who knows what the space program would have been like if he'd delayed the operation, would Apollo 13 got back OK? it was touch and go, decisions made at different times could have changed it.
What (on the face of it) might seem bad luck, could be good and vice versa, cancelling Apollo 18-20 sounds bad, but it allowed skylab which was great for the skylab teams (can't think of anyone except Pete Conrad that was on an apollo team?).
Whenever I'm up for space travel, I'll make sure to stay indoors, in a padded room, and have my meals brought up to me and my personal needs attended by carefully chosen professionals. I'll also will not take the opportunity to taste any new foods nor practice any new activity, regardless of how attractive or pleasurable it may promise to be.
No need to increase risk of missing my mission.
-dZ.
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